Hamas says the body of hostage Shiri Bibas has now been handed over, according to the group’s Al-Aqsa TV channel – as the Israeli military says it is checking the reports.
It comes a day after Israel said Ms Bibas was not among the four bodies handed over on Thursday and that it received an “anonymous body without identification”.
In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said: “Following the reports regarding Shiri Bibas, they are currently under review. IDF representatives are in contact with the family.”
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Ms Bibas was kidnapped with her sons – four-year-old Ariel, and nine-month-old Kfir – from the Niz Or kibbutz during the group’s terror attack on Israel in October 2023.
The IDF confirmed the bodies of the two boys had been positively identified but said they had been murdered with “bare hands”.
Hamas claims Ms Bibas and her children were all killed in airstrikes near the start of the war.
Hamas claimed there was the “possibility of an error or overlap in the bodies” which may have been caused by Israel “targeting and bombing the place where the family was with other Palestinians”.
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